April 29, 2009

If you hold effective meetings, you're getting the full value out of the investment in your employees.

This makes you more competitive and more profitable.

Why?

First, your employees are working full time instead of part time.

My surveys show that (on average) executives waste 20% of their time in bad meetings. So, you're getting 100% effort, while your competition is laboring along with only 80% (assuming that they're average -- they could be doing worse).

Second, your meetings are producing results that drive your business into the future.

These results include agreements, decisions, plans, strategies, and solutions. All of these are essential for a profitable business. Your competition, unfortunately, has none of these things because their meetings seldom produce anything except donut crumbs.

Of course, since you conduct effective meetings you already know this.

And if you happen to be the "competition" who is trying to figure out why nothing seems to work, this article may provide a clue.

Or, some people respond with their own version of being cranky. Then it becomes difficult to be the center of crankiness, which can ruin a perfectly good pout.

So, good news! Here's a solution:

Schedule crankiness.

In fact, schedule it so that all of your crankiness occurs when you are alone. That might be between 11:00 - 11:59 PM, for example.

This has some notable advantages.

1) No one will interfere. Without the distractions of well-meaning optimists, it will be possible to devote undivided attention to being cranky. Now pure crankiness can unfold into superb misery.

2) You can achieve perfection. This can transcend into a Zen-like state of being fully absent. Some people enhance this by vocalizing grunts, hisses, and growls.

3) No one knows. That is, once you finish, you can return to the real world without anyone knowing that you were cranky. After all, relationships are built upon a foundation of sincere, pleasant interactions.

Key Point: Why leave crankiness to chance? Schedule it so that it can become a masterpiece of private gloom.

In fact, people who do little have to expend extraordinary effort to persist with their self-destructive behaviors. They have to overcome obstacles, such as feedback from management, peer pressure, and positive examples. And they have to find creative ways to invent excuses, distractions, and blame.

It's a huge amount of work.

And that's the other secret. Doing nothing requires as much effort as doing something.

April 24, 2009

(Note: we could have picked anything, such as a rock or a shrub. But, let's use a square on the sidewalk.)

In fact, this square bothers you so much that you refuse to step on it.

So, what happens?

You may change your path so that you avoid going near it. And you may worry about it. And you may complain about it to others.

First, recognize that this is just a crummy square in the sidewalk.

But because you have decided to let it annoy you, that square now owns you.

It controls your actions, your thoughts, and your conversations.

What's the point?

Stop here and make a list of everything that annoys you. Include your pet peeves, your aggravations, and your fears.

When you finish, you will have a list of the things that you have allowed to control your life.

So, what's next?

Well, you can keep the list. After all, it has kept you busy for years.

Or, you can discard it.

Begin by asking yourself, "How important is this?" and "Does this really matter?" and "Who cares?"

You may find that the items on your list divide into two groups.

Group #1: These are things that are beyond your control and will always be beyond your control. So, you can forget about them.

Group #2: These are things that you can change. And thus they become the projects that you need to resolve in order to become more effective. In fact, resolving these issues gives you control over the parts of your lives that matter.

April 22, 2009

Actually, there are two types of failure. And both of them are good and necessary, though in different ways. They are:

Failure #1

This is the failure that people earn by trying to accomplish something.

This type of failure is good because:

1) It protects people. Some successes might be dangerous. For example, a relationship with the wrong person could be painful. A job with the wrong company could be stressful. A project with the wrong client could be unprofitable. And so, in such cases, failing (or being rejected) can be good news.

2) It challenges people. For example, the possibility of failure drives people to seek continual improvement. Sometimes failure appears as an obstacle that catalyzes creativity and leads to excellence.

3) It teaches people. Every failure contains lessons that lead to improvements. Savvy leaders seek the wisdom in every experience and then use that lesson to become more effective.

4) It guides people. A failure that blocks one path leaves other paths open. Thus, there may be better, more significant opportunities than the one that was lost in a failure.

5) It rewards people. Overcoming failure is a commendable achievement. It requires hard work, discipline, and courage. We admire those who have conquered failure.

Failure #2

This is the failure that people choose by trying to avoid Failure #1. That is, they do nothing. And in the process of doing nothing, they accomplish nothing.

This type of failure can be tragic if it continues.

It can also be good and necessary.

That is, it can provide a haven, create incentives, teach lessons, provide guidance, and ultimately represent a huge personal victory. Of course, all of this becomes possible when the person begins working on Failure #1.

April 20, 2009

Some professors are worried that the students who do this are missing important information during their lectures. In fact, one professor proved this by asking his students to send tweets during class. At the end, the students admitted that they had learned nothing.

But wait. This is not a new problem.

There have always been students who self selected themselves into receiving low grades.

They did this by day dreaming, doodling, and staring out of the window.

Now, they have an expensive high tech toy to help them fail.

So, actually, this is good news for those students who are committed to learning. The low end of the academic curve will continue to exist.

This also applies to employees who distract themselves with text messages during meetings, conferences, and phone calls. Just like the mentally absent students, these employees are sending themselves to the low end of the salary curve. And they're making themselves prime candidates for being laid off during the next reorganization.

April 17, 2009

"On one hand, my commitment to you is to provide as much valuable information that I can in the time that we have. That's what your company is buying. It's also the reality of our time window.

So, I prepared a presentation consisting of my best ideas on how to hold effective meetings. That is my agenda for today.

On the other hand, I can only be effective if I provide information that you find useful. And I must deliver this information at a rate that you can process.

This becomes a big challenge. You see, in order to optimize your learning experience, I have to let go of my agenda and become your agenda. And your agenda evolves in real time as this workshop progresses."

A meeting must be conducted the same way.

As the leader, you must be fully prepared with a complete agenda.

And then you must let go of all expectations so that the participants can find the best possible result for your organization.

If you do otherwise (i.e., force the group to obtain a specific result) you don't need a meeting.

Key Point: Leaders achieve more by letting go of control.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

PS > Are the people who provide your training programs able to do this? If not, call me. I can help.